Shoe-form



J. F. COLLINS AND L. B. WESTON.

- SHOE FO'RM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 7, 1916.

1,346,296, Patefited July 13, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JEREMIAH I COLLINS ANT) LOUIS B. WESTON, OF BROCK'IOTT, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHOE-FORM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 13, 1920.

Application filed September 7, 1916. Serial No. 118,906.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, JEREMIAH F. Con- LINs and LOUIS B. VVESTON, citizens of the United States. both residing at Brockton, 1n the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoe-Forms, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to forms or trees such as are used for preserving the shape of finished shoes when not in use, for displaying them when offered for sale, and'for other purposes. Such forms are commonly made contractible and expansible longitudinally, or both longitudinally and laterally, in order to enable them to be readily inserted into and withdrawn from the shoes in which they are used and to make a close fit with the shoes when inserted. Our invention relates more particularly to shoe forms which are contractible and expansible both longitudinally and laterally, and one of its important features resides in the construction and arrangement of the parts in such manner that when the form is expanded it presents a smooth lateral surface extending continuously around the form, with no gaps into which the soft leather parts requiring to be supported can enter. Other features of our invention reside in the means employed for connecting the parts of the form and for expanding and contracting them, these various features being hereinafter described at length in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of our shoe form as preferably constructed;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same, partly broken away;

Fig. is a transverse section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 1 with the internal member of the transverse hings omitted;

, Fig. 4 is a transverse section through the toe portion of theform at the point where its two parts are hinged together; and

Fig. 5 shows a detail hereinafter described.

The preferred embodiment of our inven tion illustrated in the drawing comprises front and rear portions designated generically by the letters A and B respectively, each of which is rendered capable of lateral expansion and contraction by virtue of being divided longitudinally from one end to the other. The two parts 2-2 of the front portion A are hinged together near their front ends in such manner that their rear ends can'move toward and away from each other to contract and expand the portion A laterally, their opposed faces being cut away in front of the hinge sufficiently to permit the required separation of their rear ends, and in like manner the two parts 3-3 of the rear portion B are hinged together adjacent to their rear ends and their opposed faces are cut away slightly in the rear of the hinge, so that their front ends can move laterally toward and away from each other in correspondence with the lateral move ments of the rear ends of the parts 22. Any suitable means may be employed for hinging together the parts 2-2, but we prefer to employ for this purpose a stout cord 4 located in a hole bored transversely through said parts, where the cord is secured by brads 5-43 driven into it, as indicated in Fig. i. This results in a simple, durable and inexpensive hinge connection, the slight hinge action required being provided for by the flexibility of the cord 4;. The parts 3-3 of the rear portion B are shown as provided with a similar hinge connection consisting of a cord 6 located in a hole bored transversely throu h said parts near the rear upper corners thereof, the cord 6 being held in place by brads 7-7 driven into it.

The form is rendered capable of contraction and expansion longitudinally by means of suitable connections between the adjacent ends of the front and rear portions A and B, and preferably this is done by means of a transversely-extending hinge, said front and rear portions being shaped above: the hinge to permit a relative pivotal movement sufficient to collapse the form. In the construction illustrated the hinge. connection also includes or is provided with means whereby the expansion or contraction of the form longitudinally results also in positively expanding or contracting it laterally, which is accomplished in the following manner:--

Each of the parts 3-3 of the rear portion B carries a hinge member shown as consisting of a metal strap 8 secured to the top of the corresponding part 3 by screws 9 passing through the superimposed ends of the strap, the intermediate portion 10 of which is cylindrical in form and extends transversely in front of the part 3 to which it is'attached. The. cylindrical portions 10 of the two straps 8 are located in axial alinement with each other and are received within a siiiiilarly-shaped "transverse recess 11 provided in the rear ends of the parts 2 -2 and made enough larger than the portions 10 to receive a metal sleeve 12, which extends substantially'across the form and makes a sliding fit externally with the recess 11 and internally with the cylindrical portions 10. The flat blank from which the sleeve 12 is formed is shown in Fig. 5, from which it will be seen'that said sleeve is provided with two pairs 01'' diagonal slots 13 and 1 1, and when the parts are assembled each of the slots 13 receives the projecting end of a pin 15 carried by the corresponding part 2 of -the' front portion A and each of the slots 1 tinued upward movement of the portion B- is effectively preserved.

llreceives the projecting end of a pin 16 carried by the cylindrical portion 10 of the hinge member 8 on the corresponding part 3, these pins and slots being so arranged that when the form is fully expanded the pins 15 he in the lower ends of the slots 13 and the pins 16 he at the upper ends of the slots 14, as viewed in Fig. 5. Consequently when, the rear portion B is swung upward to collapse the form longitudinally thepins 16 first move downward to the lower ends of theslots 14: and thereby draw the two parts 33 together, whereupon the concauses said pins 16 to rotate the sleeve 12 slightly and move the slots 13 on the pins 15, thereby drawing the parts 2-2'towardeach other and completing the contraction of the form. lWhen the collapsed form is inserted in a shoe and the rear portion B is moved downward the operation of the pins andslots above described is reversed, resulting in the lateral expansion of the form concurrently with itsrlongitudinal expansion. Fig. 2 shows thelform in the fully expanded position, in which its size and shape corres'pond substantially with the interior of the made to extend circumferentially through more than a half circle, so that the cylindrical portions 10 can ;be inserted into and removed from the sleeve 'in an endwise direction only, the pins 15 and 16 being inserted after the adjacent parts have been assembled. Hence the rear portion of the form remains connected to the front portioi'i when the form is collapsed and can be used to withdraw the front portion from the shoe,

being preferably provided with a looped c ord ,1? which serves as a handle for lifting the rear portion of the form. r

' It will be seen that our invention provides a shoe form which not only has the advan tages already explained but is also of simple and inexpensive construction and has no parts which are likely tobreak or get out of order. "It also has the advantage that when the form is expanded its parts separate to such anextent as to provide for ventilating the shoe. internally, which is'particularly, desirable when the form is to be used with shoes which have been worn, since it gives not essential, sincesaid front and rear por tions may be connected in other ways if preferred and the means for laterally expanding and contracting the form may be modified in'various ways. Furthermore, the rear portion of our form need not necessari-1y be laterally expansible and contractible, provided its front end is of such size and shape-as to correspond with the opposed rear end of the front portion when the'latter is expanded. It will be evident that various features of our construction can be utilized in certainforms oi? lastsyif desired, the word form being used herein to denote any device adapted tov be inserted into and expanded to the shape of a boot, shoe, slipper 'or' similar article of footwear. We claim: i

1. A shoe form comprising laterally contractibleand expansible front and rear portions connected by a transversely-extending hinge, and means operated by relative movement of said frontand rear portions on the 'connectinghinge for contracting and expanding them. g T

2Q A'longitudinally contractible and exvpansible shoe form comprising front and rear portions divided longitudinally from end to end into separate parts and having their partshinge'dtogether near the front and rear ends of the .form' respectively, and meansfformoving said parts toward'and away from each other to contract and' ex pand the form laterally.v i

3. A longitud'n'allycontractible and pansible shoe formcomprising front and rear portions divided longitudinally from end to "end into separate parts and having their parts hinged together on vertical axes located near, the front and rear ends of the form respectively, and means operated by the longitudinal contraction and expansion of the form for contracting and expanding its front and rear portions laterally.

l. A shoe form comprising a front portion divided longitudinally from end to end into separate parts and having its parts hinged together on a vertical axis located near their front ends, a rear portion connected. to the front portion by a transvcrsely-extending hinge, and means for laterally contracting and expanding the front portion, said portions being so shaped that they provide collectively a smooth and unbroken lateral surface extending completely around the form when expanded.

A shoe form comprising a front portion divided longitudinally from end to end into separate parts and having its parts hinged together on a vertical axis located near their front ends, a rear portion hinged to the front portion on a transverse axis, and means operated by relative movement of the front and rear portions on said axis for laterally contracting and expanding the front portion, said portions being so shaped that they provide collectively a smooth and unbroken lateral surface extending completely around the form When expanded.

6. A shoe form comprising longitudinally divided front and rear portions hinged together ona transverse axis, said portions having their parts hinged together for relative lateral movement on axes located near the front and rear ends of the form respectively, and means operated by relative movement of said front and rear portions with respect to the transverse axis for laterally contracting and expanding them.

7. A shoe form comprising longitudinally divided front and rear portions provided at their adjacent ends With a transversely-ex tending hinge connection, a sleeve included in said hinge connection, and means operated by relative movement of said sleeve With respect to the adjacent parts for contracting and expanding the form laterally.

8. A shoe form comprising front and rear portions connected at their adjacent ends by a transversely-extending hinge and divided longitudinally from end to end into separate parts, their respective parts being connected near the ends of the form by transverselyextending cords serving as hinges to permit relative lateral movement of said parts, and means operated by relative movement of the front and rear portions on said axis for contracting and expanding the form laterally. Signed at Boston, Mass, this (3th day of September, 1916.

JEREMIAH F. COLLINS. LOUIS B. WESTON. 

